Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

Volume 47 Issue 18September 18, 2012

David SmithInternnews@paisano-online.com

When the plus/minus grading sys-tem was implemented last year it was a hotly debated issue, but over the last year, the debate has cooled. As the new system has become an accepted part of academic life, it has brought with it unique changes and challenges.

The shift to plus/minus went into ef-fect at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, and before then a task force was appointed to make a recommenda-tion to the Provost, who oversees UT-SA’s academic community.

“There were outstandingly strong opinions when we first started,” said Dr. Bennie Wilson, a professor in the col-lege of business and chairman of the

task force. However, when asked how the faculty has dealt with the change, he responded, “I think it’s been very civil.”

The Provost decided to allow the fac-ulty to implement the new grading sys-tem at their own discretion. Some de-partments voted on whether to adopt the new system; others did not.

Wilson admitted that he was unsure if his department took a vote but de-cided to use the new system regardless.

“All I know is everyone knows I do it, and nobody cares,” he said. The fac-ulty of the English department did vote, however, and decided to adopt the plus/minus system. Dr. Bridget Drinka, chair of the Department of English, claims she “hasn’t heard too many complaints” from her colleagues, even though not all favored the decision.

Wilson explained that ultimately the professor is in charge of giving grades:

“You cannot force them to use or not use the system.” When the registrar re-cords the grades, the numerical scores are not recorded, and the computer does not discriminate by department. Professors simply input the letter grades and pluses/minuses. Techni-cally, professors can give a student a plus or minus grade if they so choose; however, professors are required to include how grades will be distributed on the course syllabus.

The new system has academic im-plications, most notably that a plus or minus grade affects a student’s grade point average (GPA). According to Wilson, “the biggest advantage is that it provides the opportunity to distin-guish between different levels of ac-complishment,” a sentiment shared by other faculty.

Professors, students still split over plus/minus grading

Associated Pressnews@paisano-online.com

University of Texas officials were defending their decision to wait more than an hour before evacuating due to a bomb threat, one of three such inci-dents reported at U.S. college campus-es in a span of just a few hours.

Tens of thousands urgently heeded evacuation warnings Friday amid the threats at the University of Texas at Austin, University of North Dakota in Fargo and much-smaller Hiram Col-lege in northeast Ohio.

The Texas school received the first threat around 8:35 a.m. from a man claiming to belong to al-Qaida, offi-cials said. The caller claimed bombs placed throughout campus would go off in 90 minutes, but administrators waited more than an hour before blar-ing sirens on the campus of 50,000 stu-dents and telling them to immediately ``get as far away as possible’’ in emer-gency text messages.

Authorities said they started search-ing buildings for explosives before the alert was issued.

``It’s easy to make a phone call ... the first thing we needed to do was evalu-ate,’’ UT President Bill Powers said. ̀ `If the threat had been for something to go off in five minutes, then you don’t have the time to evaluate, you just have to pull the switch.’’

Not everyone agreed.``What took so long?’’ student Ri-

cardo Nunez said. ``It should have been more immediate.’’

Recent violent protests outside U.S. embassies in the Middle East also stirred nervous tension among some students, and Texas officials acknowl-edged global events were taken into account.

Sirens wailed on the Austin campus and cellphones pinged with text mes-sages when the initial alert when out. Students described more confusion than panic as they exited the sprawl-ing campus, where police blocked off all roads heading in as lines of cars sat in gridlock trying to get out.

Tania Lara, a graduate student at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Pub-lic Affairs, said she was at work inside a central campus academic building

when she got a text message to get as far away was possible.

``It was calm but nobody knew what was going on,’’ she said, describing a crush of students heading for the exits. ``No one was yelling ̀ get out of here’ or anything like that.’’

North Dakota State University Presi-dent Dean Bresciani said about 20,000 people left the Fargo school’s campuses as part of an evacuation ``that largely took place in a matter of minutes.’’ FBI spokesman Kyle Loven said NDSU re-ceived a call about 9:45 a.m. that includ-ed a ``threat of an explosive device.’’

Police and school officials said the evacuation was as organized as could be expected, with one campus employ-ee describing people as ``being North Dakota nice’’ while driving away.

``Nobody was panicked and nobody was trying to speed or run over any-body,’’ said Juleen Berg, who works at the NDSU heating plant. ``Everybody was waiting their turn.’’

Graduate student Lee Kiedrowski of Dickinson, N.D., said he was walking on the NDSU campus when he got a text message telling him to evacuate within 15 minutes.

``The panic button wasn’t triggered quite immediately,’’ Kiedrowski said. ``But there was definitely the thought that we live in a different world now, and with everything that’s going on with the riots at the U.S. embassies in the Middle East, your brain just starts moving. You never really know what’s going on.’’

Hiram College received an emailed bomb threat about 4 p.m. and or-dered everyone on campus to evacu-ate. Hiram spokesman Tom Ford said safety teams with bomb-sniffing dogs checked ``room by room, building by building’’ on campus, which is about 35 miles southeast of Cleveland where about 1,300 students are enrolled.

The campus was deemed safe and reopened about six hours later. Ford said the college was fortunate the threat came in late evening, when many stu-dents were getting ready for the week-end.

``A lot of kids just piled into their friends’ cars and were out of here,’’ he said.

University of Texas defends bomb th rea t r e sponse

See Plus Minus, Page 2

Bridget GaskillStaff Writernews@paisano-online.com

The University of Texas at San Anto-nio and the University of New Orleans (UNO) have teamed up to assist insti-tutions affected by the Gulf oil spill. The Gulf Oil Spill Disaster Adjustment Assistance Center (GOSDAA) is a pro-gram established by UTSA in March 2011 to administer support to busi-nesses within 60 geographical miles from the Louisiana and Texas coast and marches impacted by the British Petro-leum oil spill in 2010.

GOSDAA is a federally funded assis-tance program with a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the Economic De-velopment Administration. With this funding, the program will directly pro-vide specific consultations focused on expanding each business’s capital.

“I’ve seen everything from cash

grants to adjusted loans, to tax credits for labor, and training programs for the workforce,” Robert Velasquez, director of GOSDAA said. “There is no other program like ours, offering this level of direct assistance, not just a loan or a grant.”

UTSA’s Institute for Economic De-velopment maintains twelve centers that are committed to growing busi-nesses, alleviating unemployment and expanding the economic market for coastal industries such as service com-panies and seafood distributers.

The institute raises community awareness in order to develop greater economic involvement, as well as en-gage multiple levels of federal, state and local participation.

To achieve eligibility for assistance, clients must have experienced a five percent loss in profits or employment since the oil spill. Analysts determine this percentage by examining a busi-ness’s sales for the 2010 year and com-

paring the numbers to a six month period of 2009. If eligible, the business is funded and periodically reviewed to monitor progress.

GOSDAA clients can access a num-ber of resources within a network of consultants to address topics such as specialized training, developing profit margins, improving market positions and reducing daily costs in order to improve their businesses.

“The majority of small businesses have limited funds or capacity to ac-complish these strategies, and the GOSDAA program can give them ac-cess to these services,” said Velasquez.

John Williams, Dean of the college of business, believes it is a “wonder-ful opportunity for our institutions to work together.” He continued, “The University of New Orleans has been at the forefront of the recovery outreach in our regional business community, and we recognize and appreciate the vitally important work of GOSDAA.”

UTSA partnering with University of New Orleans to provide relief to businesses affected by oil spill

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London troupe takes on Shakespeare: Page 6

Opponents argue that more stratifi-cation makes grading needlessly more complicated.

The University of Texas at Austin, which implemented a similar system several years ago, claims that the change in the average GPA of its student body has been negligible (only two hun-dredths of a point). Students need only worry if they are consistently bordering a letter grade. There is no bonus for re-ceiving an A+, as that would allow stu-dents to get a GPA above 4.0. For each successive grade below an A, students lose one third of a point, meaning that a C- equals 1.66 points: a failing grade.

On the other hand, what was a high B before can now be as high as an A-, granting .66 more points. As a 2.0 GPA is required for graduation, a C- average will no longer cut it. However, the Pro-vost decided to allow a C- to count for purposes of fulfilling the prerequisite for other courses.

Drinka mentions that there have been “some critical cases with grad stu-dents.”

Most graduate programs require stu-dents to maintain a GPA above 3.0, and students who make below a B in a single course can be put on academic proba-tion and even lose fellowships, which is

a financial implication of the new sys-tem as well. Because a B- is worth less than three points, an 82 can be consid-ered failing; some professors do under-stand this and do not give out a B- with-out considering the repercussions.

Many students are not yet familiar with the new system, yet some have opinions about it. sophomore Meaghan Monk, a history major, said, “it’s how I would grade.” Monk, an aspiring pro-fessor, has expressed dissatisfaction in not being able to “know the number,” and feels that a plus or minus is the next best thing. Professors hope that stu-dents will be more motivated to reach for that plus in the new system and be rewarded for it. “It kind of makes me want to work a little harder,” said Soph-omore anthropology major Catherine Anderson, who tells herself “you can get that plus; you can do it!”

Some feel that the new system hasn’t really hurt them or helped them. Sta-tistically, more GPA points from pluses should, in the long run, balance out the GPA losses from minuses. That being said, some students have expressed that it would just be simpler if every profes-sor used the same system as UT Austin, but UTSA currently has no plans to fol-low suit. The plus/minus system is here to stay.

Plus Minus: grading system has little overall effect on GPAsFrom Page 1

Natalie FrelsStaff Writernews@paisano-online.com

For a substantial number of UTSA students who log on to ASAP, the “Tu-ition and Fee Reminder” is much more than just a friendly note to take out the trash or feed the dog – it is a nagging burden to the anxious students who struggle to afford the cost of higher education.

Students who have taken philosophy may be familiar with Betham’s ethical theory of utilitarianism: “the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.” With the receding financial aid budget, new regulations proposed by the Texas Legislature plan to adopt a similar sentiment of utility.

This September, lawmakers intro-duced a plan to reduce the amount of grant money that eligible students re-ceive. The budget cuts are intended to stretch the allotted financial aid in or-der to reach a greater number of eligible Texas students.

Since its creation in 1999, the To-

wards Excellence, Access & Success (TEXAS) Grant Program has spent roughly $2 billion on 310,000 students who met the following initial reward qualifications: a Texas resident, who has not been convicted of a felony or crime involving a controlled substance, who shows financial need and have an estimated family contribution (EFC) less than or equal to $4 thousand, ac-cording to the Texas Coordinating Higher Education Board.

But with the growing cost of higher education, the need exceeds the means.

“State figures show that about 60 per-cent of children enrolled in Texas pub-lic schools now qualify as economically disadvantaged,” Texas Higher Educa-tion Coordinating Board Commission-er Raymund Parades said.

In 2011, the TEXAS grant program was able to cover only about 59 percent of the nearly 65,000 eligible students after lawmakers cut the program’s two-year budget from $622 million to $559 million, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Under the new plan, the amount of

financial aid a student may receive will be capped to cover only academic costs, such as tuition, fees and books.

“The question is do we try to fund a larger number of students or do we fund a relatively small number at gener-ous levels?” Paredes said.

Unless the Texas Legislature, now facing a budget shortfall of 23 million, can fund the TEXAS grant program, more and more students are left with the burden of the high cost of higher education.

The rising cost of education is in-creasing at an alarming rate, expressed Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org. Through his financial aid research, he estimates that student debt is grow-ing by nearly $3 thousand a second.

Furthermore, public universities have raised tuition abruptly because of their own financial problems Accord-ing to the State Higher Education Ex-ecutive Officers Association, state and local support for higher education last year was the lowest in 25 years of mea-surement.

According to Education Under Sec-

retary Martha Kanter, the federal gov-ernment has offset the state cutbacks by boosting financial aid, However, as she testified to Congress earlier this year, “this path is not fiscally sustainable.”

As state grants fail to cover the fi-nancial need of underprivileged, and often minority students seeking higher education, student loans have become a last, and necessary resort to compen-sate for what the TEXAS program can-not afford.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, “Obviously if you have no debt that’s maybe the best situation, but this is not a bad debt to have. In fact, it’s very good debt to have.”

While collection agencies cannot foreclose on an education, the depen-dence on student loans has become an issue rooted not only in Texas, but also nationally. The combined student loan debt of the nation has surpassed the $1 trillion mark, exceeding even credit card debt, according to policy analyst Leslie Helmcamp.

Despite the receding means to sup-plement the cost of attendance, UTSA

sends an email notifying its students of its own need-based financial aid pro-gram. Each semester, a portion of the tuition fees is set aside to benefit fel-low Roadrunners who cannot afford the cost of attendance. University pro-grams like this combat the disparity of anxiety that students face over the bur-dening price of attendance, while the legislature will continue to fight over the budget.

The Texas Legislature will now join the ethical debate on the age-old is-sue of utility; it is one of “quality versus quantity.” While grant recipients would receive less money from the state to cover the cost of transportation and clothing, more underprivileged Texas students could afford a degree—some-thing that many will argue cannot be appraised.

Board officials say that the change in TEXAS grant provisions would have to be passed by the state legislature, which reconvenes in January.

Texas may spread grant money around to help more students

August 26, 2008 The Paisano News 3

Daniel CrottyStaff Writernews@paisano-online.com

The British Consul General of Hous-ton, Andrew Millar, will be visiting UTSA on Wednesday, Sept. 19, from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the University Center Pecan Room (UC 2.01.26) to inform students about the Marshall scholarship program.

Among the most selective oppor-tunities available to students in the United States, the Marshall scholarship provides two (possibly three) years of all-expenses-paid studies at any univer-sity in the United Kingdom. Students in any field may apply for this award as nearly every field is represented in UK universities. UTSA’s Honors College is offering mentoring and application as-sistance.

The Marshall scholarship program was created by Parliament in response to the introduction of the Marshall Plan by the United States. The Marshall plan provided economic aid to Europe fol-lowing WWII and was designed to stop the spread of communism. The goal of the scholarship program is to provide future American leaders with unique insight into British culture to strength-en the unique relationship between the UK and United States.

Marshall scholars frequently attend either Cambridge University or Oxford University, but scholars are encouraged to attend any institution in the UK. For-ty Marshall scholars, eligible with a 3.7 minimum GPA, are selected each year to participate in the program and rep-resent four percent of the applications received.

Ben Olguín, Assistant Director of National and International Scholar-ships and Fellowships, said the mar-shall scholarship program “not only funds students to undertake two to three years of graduate studies at some of the Western World’s top institutions, but also distinguishes the student as a

premiere intellectual and leader.” Olguín explained that the mentor-

ing services at the Honors College have a pre-screening process for ap-plicants. The process involves the student being recommended by a faculty member, analyzed for appro-priate qualifications and eligibility for the award, and one to three years of mentoring experience in preparation.

Olguín said that UTSA had recent success with students pursuing major awards; two students were recently selected as finalists for the Rhodes scholarship, which is as prestigious as the Marshall scholarship. Although these students did not win the award, they attended law school at Harvard University and the University of Texas at Austin. He added,

“These significant awards serve as major indicators of the success of fac-ulty in their research and advanced research-based teaching, as the award foundations only accept the very best students,” Olguín added.

The specific criterion that the Mar-shall scholarship committee use to compare candidates are academic merit (GPA, awards, course of study, and recommendations), leadership potential (past leadership roles), and ambassadorial potential (knowledge of international relations, transfer-rable extracurricular skills, interper-sonal skills, and self-confidence).

Olguín explained, “In some cases, applications are not allowed to pro-ceed if they are not deemed competi-tive, which is necessary in order for UTSA to maintain its new reputation for submitting top viable candidates for major awards.”

More information can be found at www.marshallscholarships.org. Ad-ditionally, the Honors College invites people to contact Dr. Ben Olguín at 210-458-4106 or at ben.olguin@utsa.edu for more information about the Marshall scholarship or other major awards.

Marshall scholarship comes to UTSA

Mysterious film prompts deadly anti-American protests abroadHector TorresStaff Writernews@paisano-online.com

An amateur YouTube video, which depicts the Prophet Mohammed as an adulterer and a thief, has ignited the Muslim world, leading to violent anti-American protests and riots from Benghazi to Jakarta.

Protests began in Cairo, Egypt and Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, after a man, known as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, uploaded a 14-minute trailer of a film, “The Innocence of Muslims,” to YouTube. While the purpose and origin of the video remain shrouded in mystery, it was dubbed into Arabic and shown to crowds on local television, leading to riots and breaches of embas-sy security in Cairo.

In Benghazi, the American Ambas-sador to Libya was killed, along with a State Department computer specialist and two security officers. This comes less than a year after the death of for-mer Libyan dictator Moammar Gad-dafi, who was killed in a civil war by rebels supported by NATO forces, in-

cluding Americans. Following these attacks, protests and

violence spread around the Muslim world. On Sept. 14, protesters attacked an American school in Tunis, Tunisia after setting fires around the American embassy.

Protesters were killed by local securi-ty forces in Khartoum, Sudan after they attempted to storm the American and German embassies. In Sana’a, Yemen

the embassy was breached, and guards had to fire warning shots to protect American personnel.

Protests then spread to Europe when the consulate in Berlin, Germany was temporarily evacuated after a suspi-cious package was received.

During the weekend, protests spread to Bahrain, Jordan, Kenya, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nigeria and Qatar. In Afghanistan, the Afghan Na-tional Police kept the peace at several protests around NATO military instal-lations. In Indonesia, however, police had to resort to tear gas and water can-nons to disperse the crowds. In Paki-stan, violence erupted at the consulates in Lahore and Karachi as police clashed with protestors, leaving dozens injured.

In Beirut, Lebanon, Hassan Nasral-lah, the leader of the terrorist group He-zbollah, denounced the United States and asked for increased protests, say-ing that those responsible for the film should be “punished,” according to the New York Times.

Considering that many of the coun-tries being affected by this unrest went through the so-called Arab Spring in the last year, many now fear that the waves of change are evolving into anti-American sentiment.

However, University of Texas at San Antonio Department Chair of Political Science and Geography, Dr. Mansour El Khikia, remarked “What we saw…was a result of the success, not of the failure. These [extremist] groups do not want to see [these countries] succeed along these lines; they constantly have to torpedo success one way or another.”

Nevertheless, the attacks have fueled both presidential campaigns, which are using the violence as political am-munition. The Mitt Romney presiden-tial campaign cited a statement by the Cairo embassy before the attacks as a sign of weakness on the part of Presi-dent Obama’s Administration. Howev-er, the Obama campaign has criticized the Republicans for twisting the attacks into a political issue. With less than two months until the presidential election, this unrest is now a major issue in the race for the White House.

“These [extremist] groups do not want to see [these countries] succeed along these lines.”Mansour El KhikiaChair, UTSA Department of Political Science and Geography

Associated Pressnews@paisano-online.com

Eight rural South Texas school dis-tricts helped by tax revenues from the Eagle Ford shale energy boom have been designated under state standards as ``wealthy,’’ meaning they may have to surrender some of that money to poorer districts.

School officials said the change in designation was unfortunate since the districts were just beginning to see their finances improve.

``I’ve lived here for 40 years, and we’ve been poor for 38 of those years,’’ said Deborah Dobie, superintendent of the Carrizo Springs Independent School District.

Property tax values in the district went from $441 million in 2010 to nearly $2.5 billion this year, the San Antonio Express-News reported in a story published Sunday.

Likewise, in the 1,200-student

Cotulla Independent School District, property values jumped from $534 mil-lion in 2010 to $2.3 billion this year. But the news isn’t all good.

Cotulla Superintendent Jack Seals said equally booming wages mean he can’t compete with the pay to fill jobs as school custodians and cafeteria work-ers.

``It’s really hard to try to compete with the private sector at this time be-cause the oil field wages are skewing the competition rate,’’ Seals said.

In addition, oilfield workers are gob-bling up housing, so three Cotulla school employees are living in trailers on school property.

The boom has been fueled by hy-draulic fracturing, which produces oil and natural gas, and higher mineral rights taxes.

Dobie said that under the Texas sys-tem of sharing rich districts’ tax money with poor districts to help reduce dis-parities, she expects her district to de-

liver $8 million or $9 million to the state next year.

``But overall, in general, it’s a bless-ing,’’ she said. ``Anyone that wants to work in Dimmit County can work, and I’m very grateful for that.’’

Dan Casey, a partner with school finance experts Moak, Casey and As-sociates, warned fluctuating property values in the oil patch could create problems. The state uses prior-year val-ues to determine how much ``wealthy’’ districts must surrender, so a sudden drop in value might not be accounted for since the so-called recapture rate would be based on the previous year.

``The main problem you get is these guys that shoot right up and then shoot back down,’’ he said. ``As a result, you tend to get hit harder with recapture costs.’’

Seals predicted his district would have to give up as much as $15 million next year, saying it would ``hit us like a hammer.’’

Oil boom makes south Texas schools ‘wealthy’

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Afghanis burn the American flag in protest of a film depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a negative light

The PaisanoEditor-in-Chief: Katy SchmaderManaging Editor:Stephen WhitakerInterim News Editor:Matthew DuartePaseo Editor:Sarah GibbensArts Editor: Erica CavazosSports Editor: Rex CastilloPhoto Editor: Alyssa GonzalesAds Manager: Kevyn KirvenBusiness Manager: Jenelle DuffWeb Editor: Victor H. Hernandez Senior Copy Editor:Alyssa TorresStaff: Daniel Crotty, Joshua Morales, Charles Horvilleur, Doug Richter, Valeria Rodriguez, Natalie Frels, Katy Glass, Valeria Perez, Bridget Gaskill, Sheldon Baker, Hector TorresContributing Staff:Chris Butler, Julian Montez, Ethel Asberry, Christina Caine, Leann AcunaInterns:Jennifer Alejos, Lorilee Mer-chant, Jonathan Pillow, David SmithAdvisor: Diane AbdoAdvisory Board:Steven Kellman, Mansour El Kikhia, Jack Himelblau, Sandy Norman

The Paisano is published by the Paisano Educational Trust, a non-profit, tax exempt, educational or-ganization. The Paisano is operated by members of the Student Newspa-per Association, a registered student organization. The Paisano is NOT sponsored, financed or endorsed by UTSA. New issues are published every Tuesday during the fall and spring semesters, excluding holidays and exam periods. All revenues are generated through advertising and donations. Advertising inquiries and donations should be directed towards:

© The Paisano14545 Roadrunner Way San Antonio, TX 78249 Phone: (210)690-9301 Fax: (210)690-3423 E-mail: editor@paisano-online.com

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comic submissions!

Send to Editor@paisano-online.com

Join us!The Paisano has meetings every Wednesday at 6 p.m. near The Cantina.

September 18, 2012The Paisano

Is the Texas government doing enough to help students graduate?Editorial

San Antonio has experience with bomb threatsCommentary

On Friday, Sept. 14, bomb threats were made at the University of Tex-as at Austin and at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND. The threat to UT was made by a man

claiming to be part of al-Qaida. The threat to North Dakota State was an unrelated threat that happened to be made on the same day as the one at UT-Austin.

The incidents led both universities to evacuate their campuses. Although the bomb threats of Sept. 14 happened outside of San Antonio, this city is no stranger to bomb threats. In fact, the police department has seen a rise in bomb threats over the past few weeks.

On Sept. 12, the front desk of the

Menger Hotel received a phone call reporting that a bomb was in the ho-tel. The facility was evacuated and the bomb squad went in to discover the hotel was clean.

Over a month ago, on Aug. 1, a bomb threat was reported at the San Anto-nio International Airport. While it was later revealed that there had been no bomb, the threat was reason enough to close down the only international air-port in the seventh largest city in the United States for a few hours.

A week later, on Aug. 6, the San An-tonio Police Department responded to a bomb threat at the historic Gunter Hotel in downtown. It was later re-vealed that the same man who called in the Gunter threat had also called in the airport threat.

The similarity among these inci-dents, fortunately, is that after being in-vestigated by bomb squads, the threats

turned out to all be hoaxes. This is the way things are in today’s world.

Despite the amount of money and energy used to protect the city from threats such as these, it is apparent that people will continue to call in bomb threats at our public institu-tions. Rather than ignore such threats, the money is well spent if such an event is prevented

We cannot change the fact that people will continue to call in bomb threats. However, the only thing we can do is to remain aware of what goes on around us and that these threats re-main empty. But if the day ever comes that the bomb is real, we must hope that the bomb squad can do their job and prevent a disaster.

Stephen WhitakerManaging Editor

The University of Texas System Board of Regents (BOR) approved a new incentive pay plan for university presidents during the board’s August meeting. The plan would give UT system presidents, including UTSA President Ricardo Romo, a boost in salary. The incentive is tied to student success measured in part by four-year graduation rates. Although increasing university graduation rates are a great incentive, it is an unrealistic goal given Texas’ current education system.

UTSA graduates 15.8 percent of its full time students within four years,

according to the Texas Public Higher Education Almanac. This rate is sec-ond from the bottom among the nine UT system schools. UTSA’s Four-Year Graduation Rate Improvement Plan, written in December 2011, outlines a plan to increase the four-year rate to 25 percent by 2021.

This improvement plan may be root-ed in good intentions, but it is likely to fail due to the larger issue—the quality of public education in Texas elemen-tary, middle, and high schools.

According to the Texas Legisla-tive Budget Board, Texas’ high school

graduation rates ranked forty-third nationwide in 2010. Obviously, Texas education is in trouble.

How can any university improve college graduation rates without first improving elementary and secondary education? With a standardized test-ing system in place many districts have drawn criticism for spending more time preparing kids for statewide ex-ams than for college.

Texas high school students are ill prepared for higher education because they are taught to take tests rather than to think critically. Therefore, students

are far more likely to be unsuccessful. With 93 percent of UTSA’s incoming freshmen coming from Texas, the ma-jority assumed to have gone to Texas high schools, the larger issue is Texas’ education system, not the university’s failure to meet a graduation goal.

Perhaps the more important ques-tion to ask when assessing the UT system graduation rate is not whether the UT system is providing a proper education to its students, but whether Texas is providing the education chil-dren need to succeed.

Letter to the EditorDear Editor: The Democratic National Conven-

tion 2012 certainly brought all His-panics together to stand up on their beliefs. As we saw, this convention was aimed at giving President Barack Obama strategic votes as a presidential nominee.

As a Hispanic this means a lot for me. Knowing that the minority has grown in size and in power only means we are even more encouraged to vote for someone that will meet our wants and needs. Voting has been an issue in my culture, but nowadays the young-er/teenage generations are more aware of the political issues going on world-wide. And of course, we (the younger generations) are aware of how impor-tant it is to show our power through our vote. We are now taught by the older generations that the world can only change if we educate ourselves and vote for change.

Many people would think President

Obama’s plan was to gain the votes of Hispanic people by including in his speech several issues like visas for ille-gal aliens, government education fund availability to more people perhaps through the Pell Grant, and health-care potential solutions. I have to say he did a very good job talking about these issues, which we as a nation are concerned for and have pretty much left behind, although his speech was a clear representation of who he wants to help and “fight for”. The problems going on throughout the nation not only affect the Hispanic community, but also those people who are perhaps from the Black community or even the White community.

President Obama’s intent in his speech during the convention was a stepping-stone to not only gather votes, but also to include minority within the nation’s goals. I have to say that the president indeed had great speakers for example First Lady Mi-

chelle Obama and Keynote Speaker San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. Both individuals stood up as repre-sentation of not only their ethnicity’s but also of their thoughts on the im-provement and potential success of the Democratic Party. San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro certainly made a great impact on our community (both as a San Antonio resident and Hispan-ic). As a keynote speaker and Hispanic he proved he wanted change, success, and improvement for our community. He is one of the many emerging His-panic influential people who will prove that education can only better our His-panic community.

Sincerely, Anett Rodriguez senior communication major with a concentration in public relations

excitement rises as election nears

This Week in UTSA HistorySeptember 18, 2007:Referendum to raise athletics fees passes, opening way for UTSA to begin playing football.

The following is an excerpt from a story by Mansee Muzumdar and Oscar Gonzalez that ran in the Sept. 18, 2007 issue of the Paisano.

…Students and Faculty have mixed feelings on whether or not raising fees and having a football team would benefit the university.

According to professor Sandy Norman, the issue has some faculty concerned.

“One of the concerns was that football was being pushed as a way to get to tier-one status, as if not having football would keep us out.”

For students, the referendum was more about improving student involvement at UTSA, specifically for the athletic program.

“The raise in fees is nothing compared to having a football team here,” junior Eric Steves said. “We need to get more involved and this will hopefully help us.”

According to UTSA Today, state law prohibits UTSA from using tu-ition dollars or state appropriations for athletics. Football at UTSA must be a partnership between stu-dent fees and private donations.

In the athletics feasibility study, it states that student fees are being raised because the university needs to have a budge similar to those of other Division I-A universities to move into Division I level. The money will increase the university’s budget to meet the standards of Conference USA or the Western Athletic Conference.

“The idea of raising fees is not a new concept. Many universities have adopted this referendum as it has proven to be a successful one,” [Athletic Director Lynn] Hickey said.

Follow us on Twitter @ThePaisano

Comic:Editorial Photo

To celebrate the 225th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA placed billboards similar to the one pictured above all over the country. The U.S. Constitution was signed on Sept. 17, 1787 and ratified in 1788 when New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve the document. The Constitution went into effect on March 4, 1789. The first 10 amendments or Bill of Rights would be added to the Constitu-tion in 1791. Since the creation of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution has been amended 17 times as the United States has grown from a collection of 13 states into a union of 50. Tell us what the Constitution means to you. Write a letter to the editor.

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4 Opinion

Lorilee MerchantInternpaseo@paisano-online.com

According to the American Humane Associa-tion (AHA), over eight million animals around the country are rescued each year. AHA states that the majority of the animals that end up in their care are unwanted strays. Many of the ani-mals rehabilitated by AHA have been subjected to illegal animal trading. The Wildlife Alliance estimates that “millions of animals from tens of thousands of species are victims of the illegal wildlife trade each year.”

Bornfreeusa.org, an animals rights group, also claims that thousands of animals fall vic-tim to the exotic pet trade every year. Bears, ti-gers, lions, monkeys, and birds are examples of animals that are stolen from their native homes and smuggled into the country. These animals

are then sold in pet stores, in auctions or on the web. Buyers of these animals are not subject to strict laws or restrictions, nor are they required to show proof that the states where they reside per-mit them to own exotic animals through these types of purchasing methods. Buyers are not required to possess any kind of knowledge or experience in deal-ing with the animals they purchase, which leads to abuse and

neglect.According to animal

rights group PETA, PetSmart stores receive some of the animals they sell through the suppli-er, Sun Pet Ltd. In an investigation conducted by the Georgia Department of Agriculture in 2009 and 2010, small rodents were found to have been infected with the lymphocytic chorimeningitis virus (LCMV). Those who purchased these ani-mals during the investigation were cautioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to watch for symptoms that they had been in-fected with LCMV such as vomiting, chest pain, birth defects, meningitis and fluid in the brain.

Rodents in the Georgia warehouse at Sun Pet Ltd. were housed in filthy, cramped living condi-tions. Many had even been killed in “makeshift gas boxes.” In 2005, a customer that bought a hamster infected with the LCMV virus sued PetSmart. Three people died as a result of receiv-ing organs from a donor who became infected

with the virus from a hamster sold to them by PetSmart.

Pet store chains have also been known to purchase animals from suppliers such as puppy mills, which are infamous for farming pets in substandard living conditions. Exotic birds often come from countries in South America where they are left traumatized and damaged from abusive trafficking.

Samantha Kappel, a UTSA freshman who works at PetSmart claims the store is “clean and well kept.” Kappel works as a pet care associate, taking care of the animals that are boarded for daycare or vacation.

“Messes are cleaned as soon as they are made,” says Kappel, “we check to make sure they have clean water every half hour and the play rooms are cleaned three times a day with non-toxic chemicals.”

In 2009, Congress proposed HR 669: The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act that “proposed to prevent at least some of the envi-ronmental and economic damage caused by the invasive non-native bird, mammal, reptile, am-phibian, fish and invertebrate species.” In doing so, the act would prevent animals from being

bred, sold, re-homed or relocated across state and national lines. The HR 669 act did not pass.

While PetSmart agreed that risks to animals are important, they believe that the HRR 669 act will “damage the pet industry and harm pet owners as well,” claimed scienceblog.com. In an attempt to contact PetSmart about its exotic ani-mal policy, no comments were offered.

The PAWS Organization at UTSA will be working with animal sanctuaries around San Antonio beginning in spring 2013, according to PAWS public relations manager Ruby Camerillo. Currently, PAWS is working with the owner of a farm in Seguin, TX who is in charge of an animal refugee called SARA, a non-profit organization that gets its funding from donations by the op-erator and volunteers.

As for exotic species, Camerillo states that “Houston Animal Control (HAC) deals with many cases concerning tigers and bears bred as cubs.” Houston Animal Control does not in-tervene unless the animal is being neglected or abused. These limited laws make it easy to buy and sell exotic pets and are especially detrimen-tal to exotic animals that require meticulous care.

Tragedies of Animal Trafficking

Out of the Wild

Thursday, September 20, 7:00-8:00 p.m. University Center 2.01.30 (Magnolia Room)

Chaps. 3 & 4 - Lai Tsi: Chinese Sage of Wisdom, Kata Daki: A Woman ECK Master

 

Info: Adam Daufen – ibi677@my.utsa.edu or Call (832)244-6502 Sponsored by Eckankar Student Organization

Sponsored by the Eckankar Student Organization

“Those Wonderful ECK Masters”

Free Book Discussion (book not needed)

www.ubski.com1-800-ski-wild • 1-800-754-9453

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Christina CoyneContributing Writerpaseo@paisano-online.com

It is no surprise that people enjoy the simple pleasures of owning a pet and for some, dogs and cats just are not enough. Prominent and exotic ce-lebrity pets such as the Kardashians’ monkey, Paris Hilton’s kinkajou, Mi-chael Jackson’s chimpanzee and Mike Tyson’s pet tiger all contribute to the public’s perspective that exotic pet ownership is to next to normal.

The prospect of owning exotic ani-mals as pets is glorified in the media. Wildlife heroes such as Jane Good-all and Steve Erwin further strengthened the fascina-tion with exotic animals by making them more visible to the public. While these hu-manitarians set out to simply educate the public, many peo-ple were moved to want ex-otic pets of their own.

Owning any creature that is not normally domesticated poses a threat to both the owner and the animal. Change of habitat, risk of disease and the dangers of an animal’s natural in-stincts all serve as dangerous factors that limit the capabilities of these ani-mals to serve as pets.

Last year a stampede of approxi-mately fifty exotic “pets” (including li-ons, Bengal tigers, bears and other en-dangered animals) were released from a private residence in the small town of Zanesville, Ohio. Upon the animals’ release the owner, Terry Thompson ,committed suicide, leaving town of-ficials to deal with the mess. Of the re-leased animals, forty-eight were shot and killed on the scene.

According to Born Free USA, an organization dedicated to bettering

and saving the lives of wild animals, each state has its own stand on the issue of exotic pet ownership. While some states have strict regulations on which animals are allowed to be kept in private residences, other states have minimal policies set in place. Texas, for example, has little regulation on the types of animals its citizen’s keep as pets. The states’ legislation simply r e q u i r e s the owner to have a per-m i t to keep

a n i m a l s deemed as dangerous, in-cluding wild

cats of any kind and l a r g e m e m -bers of the pri-m a t e family.

However, the term “dangerous” is vaguely defined. The legislation states that other animals such as monkeys and wolves, which are not listed as threatening, are able to be kept with-out permits. Which aspects of animal behavior lead government officials to deem one wild animal safer than another? Certainly some animals are more aggressive than others, but ul-timately, who is to say that an animal deemed safe for ownership will not turn on its owner when placed in a domestic environment?

What some people fail to under-stand about exotic animals is that they are still animals with natural instincts. Wild animals often do not cope well when placed in a captive environment and even if they are raised in the “do-mesticated” lifestyle, there is no cer-

tainty that the animal will not digress to its natural instincts and become a threat to the owner.

In two instances in particular, ani-mals that had been trained, raised, and nurtured by their owners acted out and at-tacked either them or their loved ones. Although the ani-mals may have had no ill intent, they were acting out on their natural born instincts as they are, by all accounts, wild animals.

In 2003, Roy Horn of Seigfried and Roy, a Las Vegas entertainment act, was clawed in the neck by one of the tigers from his magic act. Al-though the show was practiced and performed over 5,000 times without mishap, one outburst from his feline co-star brought the performer to his knees.

In the chimp mauling of Carla Nash an incident in which a trusted pet turned on its owner, Sandra Herold’s pet chimpanzee attacked Nash when the pair tried to move him back into his cage. Herold was the owner of a chimp that appeared in several TV

commercials such as Coca-Cola and Old Navy. Both Nash’s hands and her face were ripped off as a result. The topic hit home for UTSA stu-

dents and faculty when a graduate student was attacked by an exotic ani-mal. Twenty-six year-old anthropol-ogy-major Andrew Oberle was con-ducting research at the Jane Goodall Institute in South Africa when two

chimpanzees grabbed Oberle, pulled him underneath a

damaged fence and at-tacked him. Oberle in no

way taunted or antago-nized the chimps, and was knowledgable on his subjects. Yet they still acted vio-

lently, bit off parts of his ears, fingers

and toes, and left large lac-erations on his body. These attacks are scarcely provoked; they simply occur.

Not only are wild animals danger-ous, but people also fail to understand the amount of special care an exotic pet requires in comparison to the av-erage house pet. Often these exotic pets become neglected or mistreated because the owner simply underesti-mates the burden they are taking into their lives. This is harmful to both the animal and the owner.

Despite the risks, approximately 20.3 million people in the Unites

States privately own exotic pets. Sev-eral animal protection organizations such as PETA, Eco Defense and Born Free USA work toward bettering the lives of these animals.

For the good of the public and the animal, exotic pet ownership needs to end. These animals either belong in conservations and zoos where they can be cared for by trained profession-als or in the wild. Although celebri-ties may make these exotic pets look glamorous, it is much safer for both humans and exotic animals to live their lives separately.

Ferrets, a common pet in Texas, are illegal in the state of California. According to the California Department of Health, ferrets are a threat to public health, wildlife and agriculture. Ferrets are often known to be aggressive toward people, sometimes attacking infants or small children. Inevitably, in order to be domestic, animals must be bred for a domestic lifestyle. Ferrets, which have been bred to capture rodants, have not been known to adapt well to human households. Many states require a permit to buy and house this animal.

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September 18, 2012 The Paisano Paseo 5

S h a k e s p e a r e L i v e s

September 18, 20126 Arts&Life The Paisano

Ac t ing t roupe f rom London re tu rns to UTSA

Tuesday, Sept. 1810 a.m. Theater: “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”Dream a Little Productions, with Tripwire Theater, presents a theatrical interpretation of the Lewis Carroll classic at the Palace Theater (314 S. Austin St.). The play will be shown on Sept. 18 and Sept. 20 at 10 a.m., Sept. 21 – 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 23 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 - $15.

1 p.m. Fotoseptiembre: “Kidography: Children of San Antonio Take on the Camera”The Bihl Haus Arts (2803 Fredericksburg) showcases the works of children related to some well-known artists in San Antonio. For a full calendar on Fotoseptiembre events, visit <http://fotosep-tiembreusa.com>.

Wednesday, Sept. 197:30 p.m. Theater: “The Merchant of Venice”The Actors From the London Stage return to UTSA to present Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” Sept. 19, 21-22 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 – $18. To purchase tickets online, visit <colfa.utsa.edu/english/shakespeare.html> and select a performance date.

Thursday, Sept. 202 p.m. Film Screening: “The Bridge on the River Kwai”Cinemark McCreless Market (4224 S. New Braunfels) will be screening the Academy Award-winning 1957 film “The Bridge on the River Kawi.” A unit of British soldiers are led to a Japanese POW camp where they are forced to work on the construction of a bridge over the River Kwai. Tickets are $5 - $7.

7 p.m. Politics: “Glen Beck’s Unelectable 2012 Live”Media personality Glen Beck brings his political commentary on this election season to the masses. Watch as Glen Beck faces “B.S. of A.” writer Brian Sack in a live broadcast debate from the Majestic Theater. The event will be shown live at Cinemark McCreless Market (4224 S. New Braunfels) and Regal Cielo Vista Stadium 18 (2828 Cinema Ridge).

7 p.m. Film Screening: “Victor/Victoria”The Cult Movie TV Danger Zone presents the Julie Andrews classic “Victor/Victoria” at the Alamo Drafthouse Park North (618 NW Loop 410). The event will include a guest presenter, a drag king/queen contest and a trivia contest.

Friday, Sept. 216:30 p.m. Arts Opening: “Tesseract”Unit B (500 Stieren) will display the newest glass art of San Antonio artist and glassblower Justin Parr until Nov. 3.

Saturday, Sept. 228 p.m. Theater: “Theatre ASAP”San Antonio Theatre Coalition presents “Theatre ASAP.” Six playwrights create original 10-minute plays on Friday to perform on Saturday. Watch the results of this experiment for free at the Wood-lawn Theatre (1920 Fredericksburg).

Sunday, Sept. 2312 p.m. Art: “IndiVisble: African-Native American Lives in the Americas”The Institute of Texan Cultures presents the Smithsonian-affiliated exhibit “IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas.” The exhibit explores the dual African American and Native American ancestry. The exhibit is open through Nov. 25. Admittance is $6 - $8.

F o r t h e w e e k ’ s f u l l c a l e n d a r , v i s i t :w w w . p a i s a n o - o n l i n e . c o m

L o c a l E v e n t s :

Valeria PerezStaff Writerarts@paisano-online.com

Magic touches the UTSA recital hall every fall semester as the UTSA stage is transformed into a world where Shakespeare’s classics are brought to life by a very special theater produc-tion.

The Actors From the London Stage (AFTLS) features a talented cast of five actors who travel across the na-tion to perform at universities. UTSA’s Friends of Shakespeare host these an-nual performances on the main cam-pus so that students may have an op-portunity to experience a professional theater group.

There are no directors, no backdrops and no costume designers. The actors run the entire show, on and off stage.

On stage, the actors assume several roles each while using minimal props

and scenery. Without the distraction of the usual theatrical elements, the audience’s attention is on the five play-ers on stage and the words of Shake-speare. The ingenuity of the perfor-mance itself is what makes this group of actors and their production special.

AFTLS returns this semester to per-form Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” a tragic comedy about love, greed and mercy.

Hoping to help his friend obtain the finances to pursue his love, merchant Antonio borrows money from Shy-lock, a Jewish moneylender. In place of security interest, Antonio promises a pound of his flesh to Shylock if An-tonio is unable to pay his debt. When Antonio’s merchant ventures fail, he is forced to settle his deal with Shylock.

“The Merchant of Venice” has an interesting duality to it, depending on how it is interpreted by the actors. If seen as a comedy, the play is about how the evil Shylock gets his comeuppance

and is made a fool for threatening the life of a good Christian. If the play is interpreted as a tragedy, Shylock is the victim of discrimination who loses ev-erything after a bitter attempt at ven-geance. In his famous speech (which includes, “If you prick us, do we not bleed?”), Shylock can be taunting the Christians with glee, or he can be close to tears over the Christians’ anti-Semi-tism, depending on the interpretation.

The AFTLS’s adaptation of the play should be interesting. During the week leading up into the performance, AF-TLS not only comes to UTSA’s stage, but to classrooms as well with infor-mative lessons in a variety of disci-plines in their unique teaching style.

Interested? Be sure to get tickets in advanced as tickets sell out quickly. Performance dates are Sept. 19, 21-22 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 – $18. To purchase tickets online, select a per-formance date at <colfa.utsa.edu/eng-lish/shakespeare.html> .

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Fromonly

Thursday, September 20, 7:00-8:00 p.m. University Center 2.01.30 (Magnolia Room)

Chaps. 3 & 4 - Lai Tsi: Chinese Sage of Wisdom, Kata Daki: A Woman ECK Master

 

Info: Adam Daufen – ibi677@my.utsa.edu or Call (832)244-6502 Sponsored by Eckankar Student Organization

Sponsored by the Eckankar Student Organization

“Those Wonderful ECK Masters”

Free Book Discussion (book not needed)

Jennifer AlejosInternarts@paisano-online.com

Imagine the city of San Antonio set in a deep fog, where dark clouds engulf the Tower of the Americas. The entire city has vanished in this haze. The air is so still that it creates a curtain over the area. If every crevice of the city were covered in this type of smoke screen, it could create the feeling of abandon-ment. This is an idea that is present in the work of Susan Burnstine’s Foto-septiembre exhibit respectfully titled, “Absence of Being.”

In her captivating images, Burnstine has painted the town gray, portraying a blurred existence. Her portraits seek the possibility of an unsustainable hu-man environment.

A photographer from Los Angeles, Burnstine is known for creating pin-hole cameras from household items, which she uses for her original black-and-white film compositions.

As a part of the annual photography festival, Fotoseptiembre, Burnstine’s exhibit is composed of various land-scape models in which the emphasis is placed on an urban structure in fo-cus while the rest of the area is blurred away, creating a haze that seems to convey a cryptic message.

In each of these landscapes, iconic structures from different cities are stylized to create a dream effect, which gives the illusion of an uninhabited city.

Burnstine’s desolate environments are left purely for the viewer to inter-pret. In one of her images, a giant Fer-ris wheel drifts in the cloudy gloom of Coney Island. It’s easy for someone to get sucked into this eerie setting by

concentrating on the picture closely. From a glance, a viewer can imagine the ride creaking as the wind sways the empty carts back and forth.

One of the major themes from the exhibit is the human destruction of the earth. Burnstine’s ideas stand as a fearful reminder that life is not guar-anteed. Human consumption and wastefulness is another theme that is dominant in the seemingly murky photos. The tone can be described as ominous due to Burnstine’s grayscale.

Susan Burnstine is one of the many artists featured at Fotoseptiembre this month in San Antonio. Currently, the exhibit will be showcased exclusively at the Instituto Cultural De Mexico at Hemisphere Park until Oct. 24. For more details on the event you can visit <http://fotoseptiembreusa.com>.

Paisano meetings:

Wednesdays at 6 p.m.

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Rex Castillo Sports Editor sports@paisano-online.com

The Roadrunners extended their winning streak to three games with a second road victory over the Geor-gia State Panthers, 38-14, on Satur-day, Sept 15. Last season the Runners couldn’t win one game on the road but things have certainly changed.

“This is the best game we’ve played as an offense, defense and special teams all year,” said head coach Larry Coker.

Coker wanted a more potent run-ning attack this season. This game was a testament to UTSA’s improved ground attack. Running back Evans Okotcha set a UTSA record by scoring three touchdowns in the game. Okot-cha finished with three touchdowns and 49 yards at the end of the game.

“Probably the hardest yards I’ve ever earned in my life,” Okotcha said. “Our offensive line rose to the occasion, and it was good challenge that we as a team overcame.”

UTSA drew first blood when kicker Sean Ianno booted a 26-yard field goal with 10:22 in regulation. However, UTSA’s lead was short lived. Panthers’ quarterback Ben McLane fired a pass to receiver Albert Wilson for an 84-yard touchdown. Georgia State took a 7-3 lead with 9:51 left in the first quar-ter. After that score, UTSA’s defense stepped up and shut down the Pan-thers for the rest of the first half.

“Our defense has worked very hard this year. I love watching our defense this year because I have faith that they are going to get the job done,” UTSA center Nate Leonard said.

On the kickoff, wide receiver Ken-ny Harrison bolted through the ini-tial wave of Panthers defenders for a school record 84-yard return. Harri-son was also named the Western Ath-letic Conference Special Teams Player of the Week. The Runners capitalized

on Harrison’s run, when Okotcha leaped over his offensive line for his first touchdown with after a five- yard run to give the Runners a 10-7 advan-tage at the 8:01 mark.

The Runners’ offen-sive momentum kept on rolling, and quarterback Eric Soza threw a five-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Aaron Grub, extending UTSA’s lead 17-7 with 1:49 left in the first quarter. The Runners increased their lead with one more score when Okotcha rumbled for a one-yard touch-down, and UTSA went into halftime with a 24-7 lead.

The Roadrunners de-fense quickly made a statement in the second half when corner back Erik Brown forced a fumble from Panthers running back Donald Russell. The Roadrun-ners did not waste the recoverd fumble, and ended a seven-play drive when Soza delivered a 20-yard touchdown pass to Roadrunners receiver Marcellus Mack at the 10:14 mark.

On the next posses-sion, Georgia State’s of-fensive momentum was stopped by UTSA safety Brian King’s interception with 7:13 left in the third quarter.

Again, the Roadrunners capitalized this turnover as Okotcha powered his way through the Panthers’ defense for a one-yard touchdown run. With Okotcha third touchdown run of the day UTSA fur-

ther separated themselves from the home team Panthers 38-7.

Georgia State’s offense finally showed signs of life late in the third

quarter. When quarterback Ronnie Bell completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to receiver Albert Wilson. The Roadrunners lead was then decreased

to only 38-14 with 2:44 left in the third quarter.

There was no scoring from either side in the fourth quarter, as the Run-ners looked content with their 38-14 lead. The defense didn’t show any mer-cy for the Panthers’ offense, as corner back Crosby Adams intercepted a Bell pass with 6:00 left in regulation. The Runners ran out plenty of time with the clock and walked out of Atlanta with the longest winning streak in pro-gram history at 3-0.

The most noticeable improvement, along with the ground attack for the Runners, is the offensive line. It was a weakness for this team, and many thought it would expose the Roadrun-ners this season. This game put to rest many of the anxieties about this group of men.

“They work hard, and you can tell that the off season work isn’t going un-noticed. I contribute our offensive suc-cess because of them, they are the driv-ing force to this offense,” Soza said.

After their second road victory, the Roadrunners are very excited to come home and play in front the home crowd.

“I hope our fans realize how much of an impact they have on the game. They are a part of the game,” said Leonard.

The Roadrunners will host North-western Oklahoma State (0-3) Sat-urday, Sept. 22, the last game before UTSA will start conference competi-tion. Rather than looking too far ahead Coker plans to keep his men ready for Saturday’s game. One interesting way to keep his players focused on football was to hold practice in rare San Anto-nio rain this past weekend.

“We have to keep our guys hungry. I think 3-0 is good but after Saturday we have to be 1-0. You do have to keep them on edge,” Coker said.

Kickoff against the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers is scheduled of 1 p.m. for the Roadrunners’ at the Alamodome.

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The PaisanoSeptember 18, 2012 The Paisano Sports 7

Roadrunners’ Winning Streak Stays Alive

Running back Evans Okotcha ran for a UTSA-record three rushing touchdowns against the Georgia State Panthers

2 The PaisanoThe Paisano8 Sports September 18, 2012

Leann AcunaContributing Writer sports@paisano-online.com

During the season, Saturday after-noons in downtown San Antonio, the UTSA football team prepares to play a game they are so passionate about, in front of fans who love the game just as much. But for one player in particu-lar, every opportunity to play football in the Alamodome is a dream turned reality.

Junior kinesiology major Eric Soza, the UTSA Roadrunners’ quarterback, always knew he wanted to play foot-ball. He had an irrefutable love for the game, and an undeniable talent that carried him far into his high school ca-reer. He knew he did not want his play-ing days to end on his last day of high school. For Soza playing college foot-ball is everything he has ever dreamed of and more.

“I think that the driving force for me to play college football was that I wanted to test myself and find out how good I could actually be,” Soza said.

After playing football for Texas State, he decided to take his talents elsewhere in hopes of starting something new.

“I saw potential in UTSA. There are not many people who can actually say that they started something from the ground up. I wanted to be a part of that,” Soza said.

Soza, along with the entire UTSA student body, cannot wait for: the rival game against Texas State.

“Luckily, the game against Texas State is in the Dome, and it’s going to be, I think, a very rowdy atmosphere. The Bobcats are also doing well, so I hope we both go into it with high cyl-inders, and I hope it’s a great game for the fans,” Soza said.

One thing Soza loves just as much as playing football is the relationships he has built with his fellow teammates.

Whether it is on the field, at practice, on campus, or just hanging around, Soza explains how the friendship be-tween all the players is astounding and how they are all just constantly having fun.

When asked about his quarterback, fellow teammate running back David Glasco II said, “He jokes around a lot, and he actually just called me a prima donna. He’s really cool, a great kid, a great person, a great leader. I have a lot

of respect for Eric.” Having a strong bond with team-

mates is something that definitely shows on the field, and it has for sure worked in the Runners favor so far this season.

At the end of the day, Soza is just happy to be a part of something he is passionate about, something that is new and great.

“Playing the sport I love for people

who love it as well is everything you dream about and more. Seeing the student section go crazy and seeing all the fans in the stands, it’s the most exhilarating moment that you can ever experience. Until you actually see it, and witness it, then you can’t even imagine what it’s like. It’s the greatest feeling in the world,” Soza said.

Leader of the Roadrunners’ Charge

Quarterback Eric Soza has improved over the summer and led UTSA to a 3-0 start in the 2012 season

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Junior quarterback Eric Soza sits down with the Paisano to talk football and life

Sideline Talk

Rex Castillo sports@paisano-online.com

Is San Antonio ready for the NFL?

With the 2012 NFL season in full swing, weekend conversations will have a new vocabulary list that in-cludes “long bombs,” “goal line stands,” “blitzes,” “interceptions” and “touch-downs”. Many enthusiastic NFL fans in San Antonio will wear their favorite team jerseys to promote their loyalty; however, those jerseys will not repre-sent their own city. With no franchise to represent them, is there hope for San Antonio football fans?

According to Albert Breer’s article, published on nfl.com, rumors state that Los Angeles, the second largest media market, will be a new NFL home. The short list of teams that could move are the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Oakland Raiders, the St. Louis Rams, the San Diego Chargers and the Buffalo Bills. Sure, it makes perfect business sense, but smart business does not keep an NFL franchise in the city. Los Angeles knows that reality all too well.

In April 1995, the L.A. Rams found a better home in St. Louis. The Oak-land Raiders left for L.A.’s bright lights in 1982 and won Super Bowl XVIII in 1983. Nevertheless a Super Bowl rign couldn’t keep the Raiders in L.A. The black and silver moved back to Oak-land in 1995.

Both teams left Los Angeles because St. Louis and Oakland promised their respective owners better financial plans and a top class arena for teams to compete.

The lack of a suitable football sta-dium was the biggest hurdle in keep-ing an NFL team in Los Angeles. San Antonio, however, is a city ready to welcom an NFL Team.

Although cliché, the saying is true: football is a religion in Texas. For many sport fans, they spend their day of rest watching the Sunday night football game.

San Antonio,the seventh largest city in the U.S., is in the perfect position to support another professional sports team. If anyone doubts the passion for sports in the Alamo City, see this city during the NBA season.

Passionate best describes the in-credible enthusiasm of NBA fanshere. With 66,000 seats, 6,000 club seats and 38 suites, San Antonio’s Alamo-dome housed the Spurs for 10 years. The Roadrunners’ passionate fans can also testify to awesome gameday ex-perience in the Alamodome.

Located in downtown San Antonio, the Alamodome is perfect for an NFL franchise to thrive in the heart of the city. Opened in 1993, the Alamodome was built in hopes of housing an NFL franchise. Although that vision has yet to come to fruition, other events have taken advantage of the venue. UTSA’s football program recently signed a new deal to play in the Alamodome until 2035. The Alamodome was also the site of an NCAA record crowd for a program’s inaugural game as over 56,000 UTSA football fans became a part of history on Sept. 3, 2011.

For 20 years, some of the top col-lege football programs have come to San Antonio and battled in the Valero Alamo Bowl. In 2011, over 65,000 fans watched Heisman-winning quarter-back Robert Griffin III and the Baylor Bears defeat the University of Wash-ington Huskies 67-56.

In 2008, the Alamodome hosted the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball final. The Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Memphis Tigers in front of 43,257 fans for the NCAA Men’s title.

Other cities have thrived with mul-tiple professional teams in the same city, and each team has gone on to become very successful in their re-spectful leagues. For example, both the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks have both won championships in their respect-ful leagues.

San Antonio already has the sta-dium and environment for a very suc-cessful relationship with the NFL. A Texas triangle of football teams would create new rivalries, just like it has in the NBA with the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and the San Anto-nio Spurs. San Antonio is ready for a franchise. With the statistics stacked up against it, San Antonio seems like the perfect solution to the deprived.

Middle hitter Brittney Malloy explodes up for a stirking blow as the Roadrunners defeated the San Jose State Spartans three sets to one Saturday, Sept. 15. Read about the game recap on www.paisano-online.com

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